I’ve been contributing some articles to Michigan Preps, the state’s Rivals-owned, subscription-based high school sports page, throughout the last month or so, and they’re online if anyone has a pays to subscribe and wants to check them out. Here are excerpts from a few recent ones: (more…)

FLINT, Michigan — With the crowd, the officials and school administrators in a hurry to get this game in the books, it appeared Northwestern was more interested in watching the Weather Channel from home on Tuesday night. The Wildcats played uninspired basketball for four quarter, losing at home 65-52 to Carman-Ainsworth.

The Wildcats led after the first quarter and basically sleepwalked their way through the rest of the game, trailing by as many as 16 after a fourth-quarter technical on head coach David Bush.

The bulk of the scoring for the Cavaliers came by way of Denzel Watts and Anton Wilson. Watts is really impressive. I have to remind myself that I’m not watching Glenn Cosey anymore. This kid is only a sophomore.

Northwestern was led by seniors Syro McDonald and Jaylen Magee. I don’t have any official stats because I wanted to get in out of the storm as soon as possible, but both were in the teens.

I mentioned the officials earlier, and I guess I can’t blame them for being in a hurry. There was one play in particular in which Wilson was so far out of bounds with the ball that he actually stopped on a fastbreak … the only problem was that no whistle was blown. It was one of the most peculiar things I’ve seen.

Check the Scoring Leaders tab for updated stats through last Friday’s games. A couple of guys on the rise: after a slow start to the season, Powers’ Javontae Hawkins is now averaging just above 14 per game thanks to a 20-point effort in a win over Traverse City Central on Friday and Northwestern’s Jaylen Magee had his best effort of the season, scoring 26 in a win over Goodrich Friday.

Buena Vista’s George Goodman continues to lead the pack, although his average has dipped below 30 points per game for the first time this season.

After every season, we try to give players around Mid-Michigan some love with our postseason awards. This year, we will hand out awards for the Flint area, the Tri-Cities and Lansing. Flint is first.

Hardwood Hardware: Flint Area Edition

Most Valuable Player: Cody Campbell, senior, Swartz Creek: Campbell led the Dragons in scoring, assists and 3-point shooting percentage (44%). He’s the best ballhandler I’ve ever seen in that league and among the best players. Campbell helped turn a .500 team into a league champion. He led the league in scoring at 17.6 points per game and played several games early on with a broken wrist.

Player of the Year:Demarco Sanders, senior, Flint Powers — This award came down to two players on the same team: Sanders and fellow senior Patrick O’Brien. Sanders gets the nod, however, for emerging as one of the state’s top shooting guards after playing second fiddle for the previous two seasons. The southpaw led the Big Nine in scoring at 19.1 ppg and shot nearly 55% from the floor.